Carach Angren

This Is No Fairytale

Season of Mist/Rocket DistributionReviewed By Rahul MenonPublished 09/04/2015

This Is No Fairytale puts Carach Angren in a league of their own.

Carach Angren is back with their fourth album, aptly titled This Is No Fairytale. This symphonic horror metal band has crafted a majestic little album - which will have you captivated from start to finish. Here's the thing though, you need to be in a slightly dark place to fully enjoy the album and get into the whole storyline. It's a concept flowing across nine haunting tracks that take you on one hell of a journey.

Right from the first track, you are confronted with many unpleasant themes including violence, rape, domestic abuse and so on. The imagery crafted by Carach Angren is absolutely incredible - I got chills listening to the music. The haunting symphonic arrangements, the raw and hate filled growls, the blast beats and melodic riffing is pure magic! While musically the album is really, really good - the lyric is the most important component of the album. The growls are fairly understandable, but the album is best listened to with the lyric booklet in your hand.

This is by no means a happy or feel-good album. The album takes you to a dark place, and the imagery is quite frightening. Carach Angren successfully keep your attention throughout the 45-minute duration. It's not an album that makes you want to head bang or lose your shit, but you'll be gripped by the story. For example, when I first listened to the album from start to finish, my reaction was - holy shit, what did I just listen to? - the album made me feel uncomfortable, it made me feel dark, it appealed emotionally - and that's exactly what made me love this album. It definitely is not for everyone, and if you don't allow yourself to step into the darkness as such, you probably won't enjoy the album.

The album tells you the story of a broken beyond words family, and the journey of two kids who run away from home to escape the wrath of the father. But little did they know about the horror that awaits. The groovy song structures make this a thoroughly enjoyable listen, and the songs are structured beautifully to accommodate the story-telling style vocals. As is the case with most albums these days - we always talk about how good the drums are, or how good the guitars are, or maybe even vocals. But in this album, it's hard to pick a stand out. Every element is absolutely essential to the success of the album, the lyrics being the most important part. The Fleshgod Apocalypse, Dimmu Borgir and even Behemoth influences are obvious.

The darkness, the haunting and the uneasiness created by Carach Angren is second to none. There is a strong sense of 'reality' in the album - you can easily expect this horror to happen in real life, it may even happen to you! This Is No Fairytale puts Carach Angren in a league of their own. This is an album that needs to be listened to and experienced to full grasp the depth of its content. Sit down, turn off the lights, crank up the volume and let this album take you on a gripping, thrilling journey and delight your senses visually and sonically.